Shifting in the seat so I could prop my knees onto the dashboard, I scrolled through the image gallery on my phone until I got to the selfie I’d taken of us at the aquarium. He’d been just a little bit embarrassed, probably hoping no one else would come in and see him taking a picture in front of the swirly, sparkly love wall, and it showed in the expression on his sculpted, handsome face. He was so ridiculously cute when he felt embarrassed or hesitant about stuff. God, I was so massively in love with him.
I couldn’t wait for all the dumb hiding and secrecy to be over so we could just… be together. I was perfectly aware that it would be weird at first, especially with our parents and consideringthat most of the people that knew us from school and everything knew we were stepbrothers. But none of that mattered to me. And especially once I somehow talked him into getting it over with once and for all and finally marking me, then it wasn’t like anyone could say anything or doubt that we belonged together.
I wondered how long it would take him to kiss me in front of people once we went public. Maybe I’d make it a little game to see how quick I could get him to show me different levels of public affection without being all weird andKieran-yabout it.
Glancing around the large cab of the truck, I decided it was more than roomy enough for him to fuck me in, and pretty comfortably too. There were plenty of quiet back roads that were dead at night in our town. I would definitely not be opposed to taking advantage of that fact, and it would still count as public. Maybe that would be the final boss level of my little public affection game. Maybe I could even get him to knot me in here. I was pretty sure he couldn’t turn me down if I asked. I mean, he’d probably try at first, but he loved giving me his knot too much to actually deny me.
A light knock on the window, right next to my head, catapulted me into a mini-heart attack, and I squealed. Scrambling back from the window so I could look out of it, I expected to see Kieran standing there, even though I was pretty sure not enough time had passed to walk to the building and back.
But staring at me through the partially rolled-down window was Andrew. My stomach dropped, my eyes instantly darting to the lock plunger on the door. Of course it was unlocked. Why would I have locked it? I glanced around through the windshield and the back window to see if anyone else was around, and of course there was no one.
“You don’t have to look so scared,” Andrew griped, sounding genuinely offended. “I’m not going to attack you or anything. I just want to talk.”
Immediately feeling awkward for being so obvious, I grimaced as I turned down the volume of my music. “I don’t really think it’s a good idea for you to be here right now.”
“Why? Because your brother’s not going to like it if you talk to another guy?” He asked, giving me a dry and unimpressed look through the window.
“He’s not my brother!” I said. “He’s my…”
“I know,” he said, before I could decide what I wanted to call him. “I saw you guys making out a few minutes ago.”
The judgmental tone in his voice both skeeved me out and annoyed the hell out of me, and I immediately felt my spine go a bit stiff as I deliberately shrugged.
“So? What about it?” I countered. I wasn’t going to feel embarrassed for anything I did with Kieran, ever. “And why were you even watching me?”
“Look, I just wanted to come explain myself and apologize. I wasn’t trying to cause problems for you,” he said.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. I didn’t necessarily think he was being malicious, and we’d left things at a good, or at least neutral, place last time we’d talked. But it was kind of crazy that he thought I’d feel comfortable going out and being alone with him after everything that happened.
“You said things wouldn’t be weird, so I thought it would be fine to just hang out somewhere. I didn’t mean it like it would be a real date,” he went on. “And… I didn’t knowhe’dbe here and get so pissed off like that.”
“Hecame here because I was freaked out and he was worried I’d get pushed into doing something I’m not comfortable with,” I retorted dryly. Which was mostly the truth. “He’s not a bad person.”
He gave me an incredulous look, like he didn’t believe me. “I just… I don’t see you with somebody like that, Jordy.”
A shocked scoff tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop it. “You don’t even know me!” I pointed out. “I have a life outside of fluttering around the center like a cute little wish-granting fairy,” I added wryly, remembering the dumb thing he’d said to me once.
A lot of guys at school had been like him. They’d liked me based on the image they had of me, because I was cute and popular, because I was responsible and levelheaded. Or whatever surface level observations they’d chosen to focus on. But they didn’t really know me.
“I know that,” he assured me. “Look, I get why you like him.”
Unable to stop myself, I rolled my eyes to the roof of the truck. I highly doubted he had a single clue why I had feelings for Kieran. Why I’d had feelings for Kieran for years. And why nothing would ever change the way I felt about him.
“You’re an omega so you can’t help that your hormones and your brain make you think that some controlling, possessive alpha is the safer option. But you’re too good for that caveman bullshit,” he tacked on, like it was a compliment.
Stunned, I blinked a few times, trying to gather my thoughts and formulate a response. I’d never had to defend my omega hormones and brain before. Then again, I’d never been in one of those cheesy after school specials meant to educate and highlight the differences in betas, alphas, and omegas, and the negative stereotypes respectively attached to each designation.
“I wouldn’t try to control you, or lose my mind if you wanted to have a conversation with another guy.”
“You’re trying to control me right now, and we’re not even together,” I said flatly, my brows drawing together. At this point I didn’t care if he was being deliberately malicious or not. He wasstarting to sound like a complete psycho. “Look, you need to get out of here before Kieran comes back.”
“No,” he said, the tone of his voice becoming a little more agitated. “That’s totally different. I’m trying tohelpyou,” he added, before reaching up and yanking on the door handle to the truck, dragging the door open before I could react and try to lunge for the lock. “You’d know that if you would actually listen to what I’m trying to tell you!”
Scrambling backwards toward the driver side, I bent up my knee, ready to plow the sole of my shiny oxford, the nicest shoe I owned, into his face if he moved even a centimeter closer. But before he had a chance to, Andrew was suddenly yanked back by the collar of his shirt, his whole body lifting briefly off the ground as he was thrown back. In the space he’d just occupied stood Kieran, his chest heaving with exertion, his lips pulled back into a snarl to show his straight, white teeth.
Fuck.
“Kieran!” I cried out his name, hoping it would give me an extra half second of his attention, giving me a chance to jump between them so he didn’t end up turning Andrew into a bloodstain on the parking lot asphalt.
